#234-237: Whole Bunch o' Bungalow Courts, pt. 5 (Pasadena)

And here it ends. The final four. As of this post, I have written about all 30 of the Pasadena bungalow courts on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s been two years since the time I visited my first one and today, and in that period I’ve grown from a bungalow court skeptic to a full-on fanboy.

I used to think: “Why are there so many of these things on the National Register, when iconic buildings like the Griffith Observatory aren’t listed?” Now, I’m enough of a fanboy that I write a cappella songs about bungalow courts, and give talks about them for Pasadena Heritage (there’s one coming up on Thursday, October 24, 2024! Get tix here.)

If you’re new here, here are the bungalow court basics: the bungalow court is a form of housing that places detached, single-story dwellings around a central walkway or courtyard. There are variations on that general theme, but that’s the general idea. They hit their peak in Pasadena between 1910 and 1930, at a time when the city was growing, and becoming more socioeconomically diverse. Bungalow courts were particularly popular among young families, single women and the elderly, who could get the privacy of a detached home, and the community of an apartment complex, all without breaking the bank.

These four courts aren’t based around a particular theme, like my South Marengo Avenue post or “The Nameless” post. They’re neither the most architecturally refined nor the most historically significant of Pasadena’s remaining bungalow courts. But they’re great examples of how architects and developers played around with the bungalow court form, given the constraints of the lots that they were working with.

And so without further ado, here are the final four. It’s been a hell of a journey.

#234: Orange Grove Court 📍745 East Orange Grove Boulevard

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

Arches are the name of the game at this 12-unit mission revival court dating from 1924. An arch motif welcomes you onto a little landing in front of each door, and arches extend from the facade of each unit, each one leading to a side yard. Way at the back of the court the two rear units are rotated 45 degrees, so the front doors face diagonally into the courtyard. It creates room for another two arches that lead to a tree-rich garden area, hidden from view.

Bungalow Courts - Orange Grove Court back arches

Aside from that unusual orientation of the back units, this is one of the purer distillations of the bungalow court form that I’ve seen: symmetrical rows of simple, square units, all in a row, all tile and stucco on the outside. Most of the visual interest comes from the contrasting colors and landscaping. Fist bump to whomever chose the windows at the front of their units – classy choice to go with the fixed pane topped by five smaller lights. No idea if they’re original, but pictures from the NRHP nomination, taken in the early 1980s, show the same style.

Bungalow Courts - Orange Grove Court unit

At some point, an earlier concrete walkway was replaced by the brick walkway that currently slices through the central area. Definitely an upgrade. The original hardwood floors inside the units didn’t require any upgrades. They’re still beautiful a century later.

Check out some inside pictures here via Avail.

#235: Las Casitas Court 📍656 North Summit Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1983

Here we have the craftsman-style Las Casitas Court from 1916. Its 11 structures (eight single units, two duplexes and a two-story building at the rear) are pretty densely packed into the lot, on a block that was once mostly single-family homes, and has since evolved into a mix of single and multi-family. Plus a Peruvian restaurant on the corner.

When it was photographed in the early 1980s for its National Register application, Las Casitas boasted a Japanese-style torii for an entrance. Inspiration from Japan was common for the craftsman architecture that dominated Pasadena in the 1910s.

Things have changed in the intervening decades. The crossbeam of the torii is gone, replaced by an unfortunate security gate. The gently curving concrete walls that once hugged the front two units are also gone, as is much of the vegetation that shielded them. A 2022 Google Street View image shows a used couch leaning against the tree out front, like a lonely man waiting for a bus in an Edward Hopper painting; recycling bins now occupy the tree yard that once cradled deliberately-placed boulders.

All of this is to be expected. Stuff happens when you’ve been around for over a century, and more noticeable than the modifications on the facade is the fact that the rest of Las Casitas has kept its integrity. These are the same units as they always were, organized along the same two skinny walkways, with a new roof here and a furnace added there. Peer behind the gate and you’ll see how well the wood has held up on those signature wide craftsman porches, protected by a broad-eaved shed roof. Landscaping is trim, attractive and well-maintained. The bones are all good here.

#236: Mentor Court 📍937 East California Boulevard

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1994

The next time you’re leaving Pie ‘n Burger with a full olallieberry pie, and you think to yourself “Man, I wish I had a historic bungalow court in front of which to eat this olallieberry pie,” walk three doors east, and your wish will be granted.

Hidden behind a tall green fence (which is itself camouflaged behind a tall green security hedge) is Mentor Court, built in 1923 by the De Luxe Building company. The original building permits cite an owner named W.P. Hovey, who was likely the same guy arrested in 1921 for driving 32 mph in a 15-mile zone, and likely not “the popular banjo, mandolin and guitar teacher, of Lowell, Mass.” mentioned in the January-February, 1900 issue of The Cadenza magazine, no matter how badly I wish it was.

Hovey owned a narrower lot than your normal bungalow court, just 60 feet wide. So he ended up with a narrower court, its walkway just two concrete pavers wide, with a fountain in the middle that you’d have to scuttle around. Mentor Court is also a rare example of a bungalow court that includes singles, duplexes and triplexes as part of the layout. In fact 10 of the 11 units are not single detached structures. The single bungalow, way at the north end of the U-shaped design, is sandwiched in by two utilitarian sheds, built at the same time as the units.

The scant writing about Mentor Court describes its style as English cottage revival. I don’t really see it, aside from the arched eyebrow roofline above the equally arched entrance doors of each unit. HOWEVER: the current owner has clearly put some work and $$ into cheering up both the communal outdoor areas and interiors of these units. The vaulted ceilings with exposed rafter beams in the open-plan living room/kitchen are a nice touch. It’s unclear if those were originally exposed, but you don’t often see those in bungalow courts.

Mentor Court was briefly in the Pasadena development news cycle in spring of 2019, when the Pasadena Design Commission took up a proposed development at 540 S. Lake Avenue, which would have replaced a large network of parking lots with a five-story building mixing residential and retail space. The building would have filled in the gap between Pie ‘n Burger and Mentor Court, dwarfing both of them. Pasadena Heritage recommended lowering the profile on that one; and at least as of October 24, it would appear that the development never came to fruition. It’s all still parking lots. So your olallieberry pie dreams may proceed undisturbed.

See some contemporary interior and exterior pics on Zillow.

#237: Mary Louise Court 📍583-599 North Mentor Avenue

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1994

Mary Louise Court vies with Don Carlos Court for the crown of Pasadena’s quintessential Spanish colonial bungalow court on the NRHP. There’s just something about the crisp contrasts between colors, with white stucco walls sandwiched between rust-red roof tile and the bright green of freshly-mowed grass…it all feels so intentional. And playful too! How the chimneys of the front units splay out toward the bottom, and play against the gently-sloping pitch of the roofline. Or how the fancy light standards in the courtyard are placed to form a witch’s circle with the four Mexican fan palms, all facing towards a (sacrificial?) fountain at the center. I ain’t even mad at the AC units sticking out of the windows, they somehow merge with the angles and colors of the overall court.

This one was built in 1928 by Robert Harris, who tripled as the architect, contractor and owner of the place. He constructed seven buildings around a central courtyard in the basic U configuration that we see in many bungalow courts. But their varied arrangement – four singles, two triplexes, and a rectangular building in back, broken into four units – gives the whole thing the impression of a small village, rather than a uniform group of matchy-matchy bungalows.

The story of any home is only half told without knowing who lived there. One story I dug up from 1952 lists Herbert W. Kalmbach, a resident of unit 585, as one of 21 men from the San Gabriel Valley who had just passed the California State Bar exam. 16 years later Kalmbach would become the personal attorney for Richard Nixon, and go to jail for 191 days for his part in the Watergate scandal!

Want to live somewhere political scandal-adjacent? As of early October 2024, units 589, 593 and 599 are available for rent.

Sources & Recommend Reading

+ Anderton, Frances: Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles (Angel City Press, 2022)

+ “Bungalow Courts: LA’s Best Housing No One Builds Anymore” (VIDEO – @metamodernism on YouTube, Mar 1, 2024)

+ “Bungalow Courts in Pasadena” (Pasadena Planning & Community Development Department)

+ “Charge Three with Excessive Speeds” (The Morning Press, Vol. 49, No. 134, February 9, 1921 – via UC Riverside California Digital Newspaper Collection)

+ Cooper, Kim: “Bungalow Court Housing in Los Angeles Mapped” (Esotouric.com, March 30, 2023)

+ Gish, Todd Douglas: “Bungalow Court Housing in Los Angeles, 1900-1930: Top-down Innovation? Or Bottom-up Reform?” (Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 91, No. 4, Winter 2009-2010)

+ Las Casitas Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ Kliwinski, Leonard and James C. Wilson, Thirtieth Street Architects, Inc: Mary Louise Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ Kliwinski, Leonard and James C. Wilson, Thirtieth Street Architects, Inc: Mentor Court’s NRHP nomination form

+ Meares, Hadley: “Bungalow Courts Make the Best Neighbors” (Curbed LA, June 23, 2020)